We also believe we’re the only Facebook app that lets you build a musical cupcake. You can quote me on that.

If you’re a Facebook user, Hear More about SpotDJ for Facebook here or if you’re not a Facebook user, check out our new site.

That means that in addition to creating and listening to voice commentary about music, you can now actually hear spots and music together without downloading anything! SpotDJ is no longer an iTunes plugin — it now works everywhere on the web using Flash.

It began with the notion of a musical cupcake. We were talking about how cool it would be to create a playlist on SpotDJ and include your voice — sort of an annotated mix tape. Then we thought about how you might send these mixes to other people and what they’d look like. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could send your girlfriend an animated cupcake that plays music and has your voice? Needless to say, the first thing we did is to make sure that we support cupcake players.

With the new SpotDJ, you get to choose exactly how your player looks. I’m partial to our cupcake player (which also lets you pick the flavor of cake, frosting, and topping) but you can also choose from more traditional players, boomboxes, animated cassette tapes, and more (we’ll be adding a lot more soon!). Then just pick your songs (upload them, link to them, or choose from the ones we already have) and add your voice spots.

What good is a mix tape if you can’t share it? With the new SpotDJ, you can make your mix available on SpotDJ.com, email your mixes to your friends, post them on your online profile, and share them on the
blog.

But wait — there’s more! We’ve also fully integrated SpotDJ into Facebook, the hottest social network around. If you’re a Facebook user, just Add the SpotDJ Application and you can create mixes without leaving Facebook. Then you can post them to your profile or send them to your Facebook friends as gifts.

Fans of the current SpotDJ, fear not — we will continue to support “classic” SpotDJ as long as we can. Just make sure you have the latest version of SpotDJ and it will continue to work with iTunes. You can still create spots to work with iTunes and access the classic web site at http://classic.spotdj.com/.

We’re really excited to see what people create with the new SpotDJ (Kevin is off the freakin’ wall) so head to http://www.spotdj.com/ to create your first mix!

* Godofpathos
* Marie
* BelAirDaniel
* Aureliusroot
* Bigrigtig

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Stay tuned for more exciting news coming later this week from SpotDJ

DarDarDar
DynamicStarfire
HellowThere
Lizzers
Tenshi

You rock! Thanks to the dozens of others who entered the contest, and the thousands of you that come to listen to the spots!

When I was approached by SpotDJ to be their representative at South by Southwest, I thought that it must be some sort of joke. Sure I’ve been in a few movies, mostly Westerns, but I’ve never had a speaking role. In fact, I’ve never even moved - that role almost always goes to the tumbleweed.

You can imagine my surprise then when Wednesday I found myself on stage preparing to introduce the first band of the night at Club De Ville in Austin, TX. The spines were standing up on the back of my neck; my throat was seriously parched (a year without water can do that to a guy).

I thought back to the advice my father had given me before I left - imagine everyone in their underwear… in the desert. Remarkably, it worked. I could feel my face subtly change from nauseous green to awesome green. The butterflies disappeared. I was ready to rock.
Much to my surprise, there came a powerful voice echoing from deep within my stem, “Are you READY… for MID… NITE… SNAKE!!??” I held up my limbs in a triumphant pose; the crowd went crazy! I could hardly believe my crooked eyes - I would’ve pinched myself if I weren’t so afraid of getting pricked.

Right on cue the lead guitarist blasted a monster chord; soon I was joining the band, convulsing in a head-banging sway.

The rest of the night, as I introduced band after band, I did my best to just soak it all in - for once, all eyes were on this guy, Loco the SpotDJ Cactus.

Part 2 - “A Music Community”

From now on, I’ll have to divide my life into before SpotDJ and after SpotDJ. There have been so many nights that I’ve spent alone in the desert, wondering to myself, “Is there anyone out there as passionate about music as I am?” Unfortunately, I was too shy and effectively immobile to ever find out on my own.

But then I was thrust into the middle of South by Southwest and everything changed. The badge I wore, the one that proudly said “SpotDJ” on it, was a symbol to anyone who saw it that I was a cactus who knew his music. And Holy Saguaro! Nearly everyone I met was as crazy about music as I am. Indie hipsters, punk rockers, crunchy hippies, old ladies in feather boas - you name it - the people I met basked in the fiery glow of all things music. Making my way down Sixth Street, all I could think to myself was “There’s no way this could get any better.”

Then I saw him - Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips. He was interviewing someone from the crowd. I was green with envy.

But what was this? He was waving in my direction! Was he really looking at me? Could this really be happening?

My loco eyes were not deceiving me. My roots hardly touched the ground as I floated over to where he stood.

“We’re shooting a segment for the Tonight Show. Would you mind being interviewed?”
This was it - I was going where no cactus had gone before. Hell, I was going where no tumbleweed had gone before!

Then it happened. With the cameras rolling, Wayne told the world that I was a pickle. I didn’t want to be a prick about it, but this was more than any cactus could take.

With as much poise as I could muster, I respectfully told him exactly who I was. He chuckled at his egregious mistake. I didn’t think it was so funny - how would he feel if I had called him a Talking Head?!

But this was no time for holding a grudge; as soon as the interview was over, Wayne asked if I would be willing to dance for the show. How did he know that all I ever wanted was to dance?

I tried to loosen my fibers, preparing for my big moment. When the cameras finally began to roll, I thought back to all those nights spent swaying in the desert wind. And then I danced. I danced for every note that I had ever dreamed of dancing. I danced for every cactus who will never get the same opportunity. I danced until I had practically replenished the global oxygen supply. I danced and I danced and I danced.

Part 3 - “Meeting the Bands”

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of people say that green guys can’t dance. Now I’m not going to get into any arguments here, but let’s just say that the Tonight Show wanted me back for a second shoot after they saw those untouchable moves.

Yours truly and the hottest indie bands of SXSW were brought to a secret studio in Austin to record a “slightly” altered version of the “We are the World” music video. The new version was called “We are the Alternative Rock World.” I know - we! Over night, I had gone from just another prickly green guy to the poster cactus of the alternative rock world. I had become a singing and dancing sensation - not since the Chili Peppers had vegetable matter been so hot!

By and large, the artists there were all very approachable and had lots of interesting things to say - in particular, I enjoyed hanging out with Harris Tweed from South Africa and 28 Costumes from Liverpool - I suppose neither of them have many cacti where they come from.
The guys from 28 Costumes and I became especially close over the next days - in fact, if it weren’t for the restrictions on taking produce through customs, I think they would have taken me back with them to England.

By the end of the week, I was more or less a de facto part of the band. They snuck me into shows, took me to bars, and less I forget, featured me in their performances.
The first night, the plan was simple. I was to hang out on stage, entirely motionless for the first five songs of their set. Being a cactus, this was pretty easy. Then on their final song, “Inside Outside,” just as the audience had forgotten that I was still there, I jumped up to the front of the stage and rocked out like the place was on fire. The audience went loco.
The next day, we tried the same routine, only this time the venue manager didn’t know that I was with the band. He tried to move me off stage, but I stay rooted. Then he got his biggest goon to tear me away.

Finishing up a song, the band noticed that I was being ushered out the door - luckily, they weren’t going to let this pass without a fight. Paul, the bassist, started a chant, “Keep-the-Cac-tus! Keep-the-Cac-tus!” Slowly at first, and then increasingly louder, the audience began to chant along. I felt the goon’s grip loosen from my limbs - they were going to let me stay!

Chris, the lead singer shouted “Who wants to see the Cactus dance?” The question was answered with a deafening roar.

The band started, “1, 2, 3, 4!” I nearly danced out of my skin. I danced so hard I became the first cactus to ever break a sweat. Tears of joy ran down my face. I wouldn’t have cared if I had lost a year’s worth of liquid!

All my dreams had come true. I looked out at the crowd, and I thought back to all that had transpired in just a few days time. In that moment, I could not have been more proud of who I had become - Loco the SpotDJ Cactus.

Loco and the crew attracted attention from all walks of life on Sixth Street - to see photos from the revelry check out SpotDJ at SXSW on Flickr. One of the highlights was an interview with Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips, who was in Austin as a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Wayne interviewed Loco for the show, and we also participated in a piece for the segment’s finale - be sure to watch Thursday night!

One of my favorite shows was the band Illinois (who are actually from Pennsylvania). They’re a SpotDJ band, and I saw them perform twice on Friday! Hear Illinois talk about their music here.

Yesterday was a fun-filled day. The early part of afternoon was a run to 4 tasty bbq joints. Organized by David Katznelson of Birdman Records, the excursion has become somewhat of a SXSW tradition. Here’s the crew in front of the tastiest of the bunch - Davis Grocery and Bar-B-Q.

Next was the IODA showcase, where Loco the SpotDJ Cactus was victorious over the Podcast Pickle in a dance-off competition. Hopefully someone caught it on video, but some of the photos are below.

Then last night Loco was busy at the Birdman showcase at Club de Ville, where he introduced bands like The Nice Boys, The Time Flies, Greg Ashley with Brian Glaze, and Apache. Here’s Loco introducing the Time Flys-

“…the premise is very original and also addictive. I only recorded one spot to test out the service, but I’ve already been thinking about all sorts of jokes, commentary, and background information that I’d like to record for some of my favorite songs.”

The full article is here. Thanks to the Download.com guys for checking out SpotDJ, and we look forward to hearing some of your jokes!

Watch what Loco has to say about the Podcast Pickle:

Soul Patrol!

Our matching technology is able to correct some basic differences. For example, if you record a spot for “The Doors,” it will still be heard by people whose libraries use “Doors, The” or even just “Doors”.

For artists who have a first and last name, we highly recommend that you record spots using the standard naming that Apple uses. Instead of marking a spot as “Lewis, Huey”, record it as “Huey Lewis”. That way, your spot is much more likely to be heard.

If you’ve already recorded a spot and want to correct the song or artist information, just log into the SpotDJ web site, click on the “My Home” tab, then “My Spots” and you can edit the information.

For those unfamiliar with SF Beta, presenting companies not only give short descriptions of the business but also present a limerick about their company. Scott, SpotDJ’s technical genius and creative mind, came up with this limerick that I presented before the crowd:

There once was an MP3,
Which didn’t mean much to me.
But I added a spot,
And it taught me a lot,
I’m an expert on Katharine McPhee.

Now we’re hoping Katharine will record some spots on SpotDJ!

To delete a spot, simply:

• Sign on to SpotDJ
• Click on the My Home tab
• Click on the My Spots tab below that
• Find the spot you want to delete
• Click the Delete link on the right

If you’re using McAfee’s firewall, you’ll see a window like the one below. Just click Grant Access and SpotDJ will be able to operate properly.

Record Your Spots Through the Web

If you’ve ever woken up on a ratty couch in a mysterious apartment with no memory of how you got there and a hankerin’ to record a spot, this feature is for you! With our new web-based Create feature, you can record spots without waking up the strange curly haired girl you went home with to get permission to install SpotDJ on her computer.

All you need to do is log in to SpotDJ and click Create. You can record your spot right there in the web page — no installation necessary!

Of course, you’ll still want to install SpotDJ on your home computer so that you can hear other people’s spots within iTunes. Plus, the installable version of SpotDJ has much better recording quality. But in a pinch or at a computer where you can’t install software, check out our web based recorder!

Fan Blasts!

Most spots are about a particular song or artist. You know, stuff like “This song is about…” or “I like this song because…”. Fan Blasts don’t have to be about any particular song — they’re spots that your SpotDJ fans will hear regardless of what they’re listening to.

For example, maybe you’d like to use Fan Blasts to tell your listeners more about yourself, or to recommend an album you just bought. If they’ve added you as a Fave, they’ll hear your blast!

To record a Fan Blast, just to go the Create tab and record your spot, making sure to select a Fan Blast! from the “This spot is…” section. Or, if you want to change an existing spot to be a Fan Blast, just click on the title and change the spot type.

New Bling - Share Your Spots!

We’ve made it easier than ever to bring your spots to your MySpace page, blog, or web site. Just visit our Bling page to build a SpotDJ badge. Your badge can even include a player so that people can hear your spot from any web page. Neat!

Upload Spots as MP3’s

Several of you are really into audio. For you guys, our simple “click to record” interface isn’t enough — you guys want to use Pro Tools or GarageBand to record spots.

That’s fine by us! Now you can use whatever sofware you want to record spots. Just save your spot as an MP3 and you can upload it directly to SpotDJ!

That’s all I have time to describe for now! Kevin just IM’d me saying “More features, slacker!”

However, if you just want to record a spot quickly and don’t have time to download and install SpotDJ, you can still contribute a spot! Just sign up or login to SpotDJ, then click the Create tab:

Under the Create tab, you can record your spot right through the SpotDJ web site using Flash. Just click the Allow button to give Flash access to your microphone. Then click Record to record your spot. Fill in the details on the form and submit it — your spot will be available shortly!

SpotDJ has a (currently experimental) feature that lets you take spots to go. Simply click the small iPod button near the top of the SpotDJ window. It looks like this:

Now you’re in iPod mode. You’ll see a drop down menu with a list of your current iTunes playlists. Pick the playlist you’d like to add spots to and then click Create Spotted Playlist. SpotDJ will create a new playlist with spots based on the original. Your original playlist will be left untouched.

Now, just sync your iPod to download the new playlist and you’re ready to take your spots on the go!

This past Friday the hot band Scissors for Lefty dropped by (have you seen their Billboard and Spin write-ups?). Check out this spot they recorded about their next San Francisco show at the Noise Pop Music Festival:

Noise Pop - with The French Kicks

Stay tuned for more commentary from your favorite bands!

SpotDJ’s cactus mascot, who we’ve named Loco (after his eyes and favorite English word), will continue to make appearances in your iTunes and around the world. Keep a look out, you might just see him dancing on the street. Crazy!

Featured in the show are SpotDJ’s Ben Fong-Torres with this spot about U2 and Scott Parent with this spot from Fall Out Boy.

Watch for yourself!

“On this floor, companies have pretty sane business ideas,” says Grant Goodale, a product architect at SpotDJ, a 10-month-old business with three employees. “Nobody has too much money. Everyone is cognizant of the rules.”

And it’s true, we’re only a handful of folks here at SpotDJ, but we’re trying to do a lot with a little. Given the positive feedback we’ve received from you so far, we couldn’t be happier with the progress we’ve made in such a short period of time.

Thanks for being one of our early supporters, and keep the feedback coming!

Rolling Stone covers our launch, in which writer Nicole Frehsee describes the service as well as highlights this spot by Ben Fong-Torres where Iggy Pop talks about Jim Morrison’s impact on the Stooges. Crazy!

Thursday morning began with Nic Harcourt (Music Director at KCRW in Santa Monica) interviewing Terry McBride (CEO of Nettwerk Music Group) about the future of the music industry. Terry described a world in which the best radio station is programmed by the listener, the future of music is fan-to-fan, and fans’ passion about music drives leads them to create their own content about music. He terms this new era the wePod generation, which combines the personalization of the iPod with the community nature of social networks and the web. We couldn’t agree more!

The rest of the two days was packed with interesting discussion groups focused on many of the hot topics in the music industry today — how technology is changing the industry, the changing role of the artist and fan, and the growth of user-generated content around music.

Thursday and Friday night were reserved for listening to some great music, and the organizers brought in a fantastic lineup of bands from around the world. Almost all the bands participating in Transmission recorded spots about their music — talking about songs on their most recently album, their early influences, and why they were excited about the Transmission Showcase, for example. You can hear from all the artists on our Transmission page. Check ‘em out!

• Send a spot - Sometimes you hear a spot that you just know your best friend should hear. A story they’d find funny, a recommendation they should check out, or maybe you just recorded the spot and want them to listen to it (and rate it!). To send a spot to someone else, just look for a link like this:
  
  
• More Bling for Your Blog or MySpace Page - Our all-new Badge Design and Bling Factory (BDBF) lets you create a custom image like the one below to place on your blog, home page, MySpace page, message board signature, custom stationery, or perhaps printed and turned into an iron-on for a t-shirt:
  
  klep
  
  All Klep. All the time.
  
  
• Get Your Transmission Checked - SpotDJ is all over Transmission, a Vancouver-based music festival and conference. Check out our Exclusive Content from Transmission to get to know these bands!
  
  
• Experimental AirTunes Support! - You keep telling us that you want to listen to SpotDJ through AirTunes. Well, we’ve been working on it. It’s not quite ready for prime time yet, but our Windows users who update to the latest version of SpotDJ can access AirTunes mode through the Settings dialog. Give it a shot — let us know what you think.
  
  
• Buy Songs in iTunes - When we first started SpotDJ, we expected listeners to mainly be interested in spots about songs they already have. Turns out, spots have a life of their own. You can spend hours browsing around the web site, and listening to what people have to say about music, whether you own the song or not. With our new relationship with iTunes, when you stumble upon an interesting spot, you can easily by new music from the artist in question by clicking on the iTunes icon:
  
  
  
• Bug Fixes, Tweaks, and Something Really Cool - You’ll find other small changes on the site and in the SpotDJ player. Little things that make you say, “Gosh, SpotDJ really cares about me.” We also have something else coming really soon that we’re not ready to announce yet, but it’ll be really sweet. Stay tuned!

The article, which appeared in the UCLA Daily Bruin, talks about how radio and radio-like services are adapting to match shifts in the way that people obtain and enjoy music. Of course, it highlights SpotDJ as a big part of that, but I think it’s this quote that really hits the nail on the head:

Ian Rios, a fourth-year religious studies student, is excited by any chance to connect music and community. He receives much of his music from his friends. He was intrigued by the idea of reaching a community through programs such as SpotDJ.

“For me, sharing music is very important. The experience is kind of like judging a work of art — on its own it can mean nothing, but it’s the people and context that give it meaning,” Rios said.

That’s exactly why we built this product. I’ve always felt that you get more out of music when you’ve made a personal connection through it, or you’ve learned something a little deeper about the music.

Well, the candy may just barely be disappearing from the American palate, but SpotDJ is hard at work rolling out new features for your enjoyment. This week’s updates are focused around making your listening experience even more customizable and letting you share your Spots with the world.

First off, you’ll notice a new profile field, catchily named “I Record Spots in”. As our plan for global domination unfolds, we’ve noticed that many of you want to record spots in your native language. No problem - let everyone know! There’s a corresponding preference that lets you choose whether you want to hear spots in your native tongue, English, or both, so you can hear just the spots you want. If your language or country of choice isn’t on the list, let us know and we’ll add it.

Next up is the newly renamed Connect tab, formerly known as ‘Invite’. Here you can invite friends to SpotDJ just like before, but now you can invite a bunch of ‘em at once! Just enter their email addresses separated by commas and you’re good to go. In addition, we’ve added a Bling section, where you can grab a SpotDJ badge and share your SpotDJ profile page with the world! The best part is, if someone signs up after clicking on your badge, they’re automatically your fan. How cool is that?

Finally, we’ve tweaked the SpotDJ application to be a little more helpful. Now, when we’re not going to play a spot for you we’ll tell you the reason why rather than getting all tight-lipped about it. In addition, we’ll occasionally show you a list of spots you’ve heard recently, or a list of spots we might’ve chosen, just so you’ve got something to check out.

There’s plenty more on tap - stay tuned!

A spot is simply a short snippet of audio about the song you were listening to. It could be basic information about the song, a story about the artist, an interpretation of the song, news, gossip, recommendations, whatever!

A SpotDJ is also a person — and by using SpotDJ you become a SpotDJ. All of the spots on SpotDJ are created by our users. So if you’re listening to a song and have something to say about it, just flip to SpotDJ, click the “Spot this Song!” button and record your spot. Other SpotDJs listening to that song will hear your comments at the end of the song.

SpotDJ also makes an excellent dessert for a summer afternoon. Mix 3 packets of SpotDJ with 12 ounces (by weight) of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of light brown sugar, 2 eggs, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix until combined. Then spread the SpotDJ mixture on a greased baking pan and sprinkle with the shredded packaging from an iPod Nano. Bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until topping is crisp and golden brown, or when it has ignited. Serve immediately.

A spot can be just about anything. A spot might tell you something interesting that you didn’t know about one of your favorite songs, like this spot about Jay-Z:

Other spots contain artist updates, concert announcements, trivia, interpretations of songs, etc. You name it, someone has probably spotted it!

The spots you hear with SpotDJ are created by other SpotDJ users. You can also easily create your own spots for the world to hear. Got something to say about a certain song or artist? Some gossip to share? Some knowledge to assert? Be heard!

• If you just signed up for SpotDJ, did you confirm your email address? You should’ve received an email message when you signed up with a link to confirm. If you’d like, we can send the confirmation email again. Just attempt to login to the SpotDJ web site, and it’ll offer to re-send the confirmation email.

• Make sure that you’re logging in with your email address, not your DJ name!

• If you forgot your password, you can reset it through the web site.

• Make sure your CAPS LOCK key isn’t down — passwords are case-sensitive.

• If all else fails, try clearing your browser’s cookies.

For our dedicated alpha users, and curious others, here’s a quick rundown of some of the new features in beta:

• New design! The new SpotDJ is much easier on the eyes.
• It’s easier to find new DJ’s to listen to. You can see people’s fans and faves, allowing you to find more content that you’d like.
• You have more controls for customizing your profile. Now you can tell people where to find you on MySpace, what kind of music you like, etc.
• We now show you your stats on the left-hand side of the screen so you can see how popular you are!
• We’ve got a cool Flash demo of how SpotDJ works over on the home page. So if you’re having trouble explaining it to your friends, just sit them down in front of that and glue their eyes open.
• There’s a lot more that you’ll discover as you start to use the beta. Lotsa cool little tweaks, random humor, and general improvements.

Welcome to the beta!

Here’s how to record a spot:

1. Sign up for SpotDJ, if you haven’t done so already.
2. Download the SpotDJ app and install it. The download should happen automatically when you sign up.
3. Run SpotDJ, by double-clicking the SpotDJ icon:
4. In iTunes, start playing the song you’d like to spot.
5. When SpotDJ shows the correct song info, click the “Spot this Song!” button:
   
6. Click the “Record” button:
   
7. Start talking!
8. Click the “Stop” button to finish:
   
9. Click the “Play” button to listen to your spot. If you don’t like it, you can record it again:
   
10. Click “Upload” to send your spot to SpotDJ:
    

    It’ll take a few seconds, then the music will start again.

We’ll be refining this process over time to make sure that you get the best possible content for the songs you’re listening to.

So, even if a spot already exists for your song, go ahead and add something new. Or if you hear a spot that you disagree with, or you want to expand on, add a new spot!

Or, if you prefer, you can call in your spots. Visit this page for details.

*Microphone offer is available only to registered users of SpotDJ with US addresses while supplies last, or until Kevin gets tired of addressing envelopes. We reserve the right to end the offer or not send microphones as we see fit. We won’t use your address for any other purpose, not even a Christmas card. The microphone uses a standard microphone input and will not work on computers that lack such an input, such as certain Macs.

Sometimes spots sound too loud or soft because of the way they were recorded. We attempt to normalize all spots to the same volume level, but if you encounter a spot that is horribly loud or unforgivingly soft, please send us feedback with the name of the spot (or a link to it) and we’ll check it out.

To prevent your own spots from being too loud or soft, keep your volume levels in the mid range and play back your spots before uploading them to make sure they sound okay.

When someone adds you as a fave, they become one of your fans. The more fans you have, the more people tend to hear your spots, and the more popular you look when people view your profile. When you invite a friend to join SpotDJ, they automatically become one of your fans.

In the future, we’ll be adding more features that build on fans and faves. So keep adding to your lists and when someone tells you they like your spots, tell them “Be sure to fave me!”

To fix the problem manually, you get to enjoy the magic of manual DLL registration. Don’t worry — it’s easier than it sounds. Children in Redmond, WA learn this in second grade!

1. Click the “Start” button and select “Run” from the Start Menu.
2. In the box, type “cmd” (no quotes) and click “OK”. A command prompt comes up.
3. Type “cd c:\Program Files\Context Optional\SpotDJ” (again, no quotes!) and press RETURN
4. Type “regsvr32 AudioCtl.dll” and press RETURN.
5. You should get a message saying that DllRegisterServer succeeded. Hooray!
6. Start SpotDJ. Tell a friend!

If you’re still having problems after trying this, please send us a message and we’ll do our best to help you out.

“When I was a kid wanting to be on the radio, I got an album called “You Be a DJ” and pretended that I was on “WBDJ.” I’m certain that’s how I got to be on KFOG and KSAN. Now, a local Web 2.0 startup, SpotDJ.com, lets you record bits — opinions, news or gossip about artists and songs — and fellow SpotDJs will be able to hear them as part of their iTunes listening. It’s essentially short-form podcasting, in a musical environment. SpotDJ goes into beta mode in mid-October.â€�

For those who are unfamiliar, Ben is a legend in music journalism. He was senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine from almost the magazine’s inception and throughout the 1970s – a role in which he’s portrayed in the movie Almost Famous. He was also a rock DJ for San Francisco radio station KSAN during the 70s and has a book with The Doors (The Doors By The Doors) coming out later this year.

We are so excited to have had our first press mention, and there is no better person to have broken the story than Ben Fong-Torres.

Read the original article

#1) Write Ideas, Not a Script
We know that talking into a mic can make you nervous. A lot of people write stuff down before recording a spot, but that can sometimes backfire. Users have told us that they generally prefer spots that sound like they were recorded off-the-cuff to spots that seem scripted.

That said, we think it’s a great idea to think about what you’re going to say ahead of time and take down some notes. Just keep it casual and you won’t sound like an encyclopedia.

#2) Keep it Short!
Unless you’ve got a killer story about the band that takes a minute to tell, you should try to keep your spots short and sweet. When the length of your spot starts to rival the length of the song itself, people might start to tune out and they’ll just skip the spot. Some of the best spots are less than 20 seconds long. They tell you what you heard and give you a brief nugget of info.

#3) Remember When Spots are Heard
Spots are heard after a song is done playing. Remember that your listeners have already heard the song. So you don’t need to say “You should really check out Heart of Glass” if that was the song they just played.

You may, however, find it useful to give recommendations. So it’s fine to suggest Heart of Glass in a spot about a similar song.

#4) Put Yourself in a DJ’s Shoes
Sometimes it’s helpful to temporarily forget that you’re in front of a computer and pretend you’re in a DJ booth. You’ve got a mic in front of you and you just played a song. There are people out there listening, depending on you for interesting commentary and context. Thinking about SpotDJ this way might change what you say and how you say it.

#5) Make Sure Your Spots are Heard
Remember that SpotDJ matches spots with songs by looking at the information in iTunes. So if you record a spot for The Beetles (note the misspelling), odds are that nobody will hear it unless they have the same misspelling.

If you accidentally record a spot with incorrect song or artist information, all is not lost. You can log into the SpotDJ web site and click on the spot (under HOME -> MY SPOTS) to correct the information. You can also change whether the spot refers to that particular song or all songs by the artist.

#6) Stay Up to Date
Since we’re still testing SpotDJ, we release new versions of the product fairly frequently. When you get an update notification (SpotDJ checks for a new version when you open it), please download and install the new version! There are often changes that affect sound quality, fix bugs, or offer useful enhancements.

#7) Make it Personal
Often times, it’s more interesting to hear a DJ talk about their personal experience with a song or artist than to hear them state some encyclopedia-like facts. There’s certainly plenty of interest in factual spots, but also consider talking about why you like a song, what it reminds you of, a funny story about going to that artist’s concert, or your own interpretation.

#8 (bonus!) Listen To Your Spots Before You Tell Them Goodbye
Hey, I get giddy when I’m recording spots too and sometimes I want to just click “Upload” without listening to the spot I just recorded. Try to resist the urge! By listening to your spot before you upload it, you can make sure that it sounds the way the you want. If it’s too loud or soft, you might want to adjust your microphone volume. If it sounds fuzzy (especially when you pronounce the letter “P”), you should try moving a little further from the microphone.

Thanks to everyone who’s sent in feedback so far. Keep it coming!

One day soon thereafter, I took my wife’s car to work instead of taking the train because I had a doctor appointment. I realized that for the first time in almost a year, I was listening to the radio for a significant amount of time. And it was great! Instead of just hearing back-to-back songs, there was a DJ giving me more information about the songs and basically guiding me through the music. I realized exactly what was missing from my iPod experience — a sense of context, some more engaging content, and the feeling that I was having a shared experience.

I quit my job soon thereafter to explore different possibilities around adding commentary to music. People are really passionate about music. They like to learn about it and gab about it. Shared music interests is a major way to connect with other people. Many young people list their musical tastes first when asked to describe themselves. Message boards and Wikipedia entries are great for doing active research into music, but there isn’t a way for people to experience added context within their normal listening experience. Given the explosion in digital music, this seemed absurd to me — everybody’s building these huge finely-tuned personal music libraries and there’s no way to learn more about the songs or share knowledge with other listeners. There’s no way to get the guided, engaging experience of a radio DJ on my iPod.

Around March 2006, I teamed up with Kevin Barenblat and Grant Goodale and we started SpotDJ. We’re building a companion for media players (by which I mean iTunes at the moment) that adds DJ-like commentary between tracks. Best of all, it’s user-generated. So, for example, let’s say you buy the Life Aquatic soundtrack and grow to like the Portuguese cover of David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” by Seu Jorge (it’s awesome, by the way). After you hear the song, you’d hear a SpotDJ user who speaks Portuguese interpreting the song, telling you that Seu Jorge didn’t translate Bowie’s words and the meaning is completely different. You can also record your own comments (we call them “spots”) by just clicking a button and talking. Other SpotDJ users listening to that song will hear your comment when the song is over.

In our testing, we’ve heard some really interesting uses of SpotDJ. How cool would it be to get an announcement that James Blunt is coming to San Francisco next week when you play his song? How cool would it be to hear an artist’s “audio liner notes” after their song? Or better yet, someone else’s interpretation that might make you look at the song in a new light? Our users have done everything from trivia to “Behind the Music” to editorials.

So that’s how SpotDJ came about. It’s truly a case of the founders finding a need in our own experience and building a solution that we hope applies to a lot of people. When we open up SpotDJ to the publicly shortly, we look forward to seeing how it fits in with the way you want to experience music.

Under the “Input” tab, make sure that the correct device is selected. If you’re using a laptop, you’ll probably use “Internal microphone”. If you’re using a desktop Mac, you may have a USB microphone, or one of the sound input ports on your computer.

In the screenshot below, the internal microphone has been selected. Notice that the Input Volume has been set in the middle — a good starting point and the first setting to tweak if your spots are too loud or two soft.

Note: Some newer macs, like the Mac Mini, have an audio input port that looks like a microphone port but won’t work with a standard microphone. You’re better off with a USB Microphone. If you’re unsure whether or not your mic is working properly, watch the Input level on the Sound System Preferences Panel as you speak into it.

If you’re using our Mac version, please update before recording any new spots!

Back and Forward in the Client
Many users told us that they wanted to rate or comment on a spot after the spot played, but by that time, the page allowing them to do so had disappeared. Now there are back and forward buttons in the SpotDJ application so you can return to a previous spot to read more about it, rate it, add the DJ as a fave, leave a comment, or send the DJ a message.

Be Social
We’ve added the ability to send a private message to a DJ via email. Just go to the DJ’s page (click on their name when you see their spot) and click “Send a message…”. The DJ will get your message and will be able to reply, but we won’t reveal anybody’s email address in the process. If you don’t want to receive messages from other SpotDJ users, you can uncheck “Allow other users to send me messages” on your Profile page.

Better Spot Selection
We’re always improving our machinery for deciding which spot to play for a given song. With our new improved system, every time you play a song, a panel of experts in Rochester, NY compares it to our database of spots and selects the best one to send you.

Fancy New Icons
Both the Mac and Windows versions of SpotDJ have shiny new 3-Dish icons. Thanks, Chad!

More Spot Editing
Did you know that after you upload a spot, you can change things about it? Just log in to the web site and click on the spot from your home page. You can change the title of the spot and you can now also change the name of the song and artist that the spot relates to. So if you accidentally talk about 50 Cent while listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary (I always get the two mixed up), now you can correct it.

Search!
Grant whipped up a pretty sweet search engine. The search field shows up on most pages of the web site. Just type in your query, and we’ll show you any matching spots, users, songs, or artists that we know about.

Faster Uploads
Not only do spots upload faster than before, but we will now resume your music while the spot is being uploaded. So you wait less time, and the time you wait is more pleasant.

More to Come!
We have many more features we’re working on for upcoming releases. Keep sending in feedback! It helps us prioritize and directly impacts the direction of SpotDJ.

Well, hang in there. A couple of things have to happen for you to hear a spot:

• SpotDJ needs to check if there’s a spot available – is your machine connected to the internet?
• We also need to be able to tell what song you’re listening to. Are your music files tagged properly? SpotDJ is pretty smart, but it’ll have a hard time figuring out what “Track 01.mp3” is.
• SpotDJ needs some time to download the spot from our servers. Is your network connection very slow? Are you downloading Britney’s latest feature-length movie right now? Are you skipping around, listening to only parts of songs?

Even if all that’s working, it’s possible we just don’t have a spot for anything you’ve played yet. Have a look around the web site and see what other people are spotting – if no one’s spotting your favorite artists, well, it’s time to pick up the microphone!

I’ve been a Mac user all my life. When my family got our first Mac in 1984, I’d spend hours just playing with MacPaint and MacDraw (and swapping floppies). By High School, I was writing Mac shareware and in college, I was lucky enough to be an Apple intern.

When we first started talking about the concept of SpotDJ, I knew that it was something Mac users would love — a small app that does something really cool and creative. The first prototype that we showed investors was an AppleScript studio application that used AppleScript to talk to iTunes. So while our Windows version technically came out first, the Mac version was always a high priority.

I hope that Mac users will find SpotDJ for Mac OS to be a high-quality piece of software, worthy of inclusion on your Dock. It currently requires 10.4 (Tiger), iTunes, and a microphone (if you want to record spots).

Like our Windows version, the Mac version is currently in closed alpha testing. If you’re already an alpha user, you can log in and download the Mac version now.

But first, the formalities:

• My favorite band/artist is, without a doubt, Ben Folds”. Actually, it must be The Roots. Or maybe DJ Krush, or The Shins, or Ryan Adams. Okay, I like everything.
  Please, recommend artists to me!

• My first concert was [cough] Great White and MSG. The encore was cut short when someone in the audience hit the lead singer of Great White in the eye with a cigarette during “The Angel Song”. Good times, man; good times. Sadly, no photos remain of me during my metal years; they all perished in a fire of suspicious provenance around the time I entered public life.

• My most recent concert was Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright – fantastic. I’m looking forward to the Pet Shop Boys west coast tour dates this fall.

On the work side, I’m responsible for much of the web site’s underlying
technology and dabble in the client apps a bit. If you’ve got ideas on ways to make the site better, let me know.

• In general, we prefer to play you spots recorded by other DJ’s because you probably know what you sound like. So after we’ve played your new spot once, you probably won’t get it again.
• Spots take some time to download. So if you’re near the end of the song and you record a spot, we might not have enough time to retrieve it before the song is over.
• We won’t play the same spot twice in a row. So if you heard your spot once and then you bring your friend Esmeralda over to hear it, she probably won’t until another spot has played first.
• Spots only play at the end of a song, so if you’re trying to get the spot to play right away, skip to 5-10 seconds before the end to make sure SpotDJ has enough time to download the spot and detect that the song has changed.

Keep in mind that you can always view/edit/listen to all your spots from your DJ page, which you can access at your Home page

So what is SpotDJ? SpotDJ an add-on for media players that enables you to do more with your music – learn about the songs you’re listening to, share your expertise with others, hear directly from artists about upcoming shows and album releases, get recommendations on other bands you should check out, and more to come.

Why would I use SpotDJ? We don’t believe learning about music should be a separate process from listening to it. Our goal is to bring the information you seek elsewhere – on fan sites, podcasts, blogs, MySpace, artist pages, magazines, TV shows – into the listening experience.

How does SpotDJ work? While you listen to music, we search our database for audio spots relevant to the song you’re listening to. When we find a match, we insert that relevant audio commentary into your listening experience.

For example, while listening to the Beastie Boys, between songs we insert an interesting tidbit from user Bosco about the great song “You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party” and you discover that the song was originally intended as a parody. While the audio spot plays, you can rate Bosco’s spot, leave a comment, and click on Bosco to learn more about other spots he has recorded.

We’ve put more information on how the service works on the SpotDJ website and have more information posted on the FAQ as well.

Like to talk about music? Our service was built with you in mind. If you don’t want the hassle of maintaining a website, creating a whole podcast, or running your own internet radio show, we make it easy for you to share your insights with the world at the click of a button – simply hit the record button while you’re listening to music, say the interesting tidbit on your mind, and upload your audio spot to our server. Next time anyone else listens to your song, they can hear your commentary – it’s that simple!

Download and install SpotDJ, record a few spots about your favorite tunes, and let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you!

These days, in addition to working with the rest of the team on the product direction, I spend most of my time on the SpotDJ client. The client is the downloadable application that interfaces with iTunes and the the SpotDJ service. Most recently, I spent a good couple of months getting back in touch with my Mac roots while building the Mac version of SpotDJ.

I intend to use our blog to share some of what I’m learning along the way about how we can enhance people’s listening experience, what technical challenges we’re facing, and how we’re making SpotDJ better.

I’m the one here responsible for the business aspects of SpotDJ, so most of my posts will probably relate to that side of the business. I encourage you to send your feedback and suggestions to us, as we enjoy hearing from our users, as well as to contact me at any time.

Here are some suggestions for how to get started recording spots:

• What do you know about your favorite artists that most people don’t know? Turn that into a trivia question that other fans of the artist might find interesting.

• Heard any gossip about a musician? Share the dirt with other SpotDJ users!

• Listen to one of your favorite songs. What’s this song about? Is there a deeper meaning? What does it mean to you? What do you think the artist was talking about?

• Put yourself in the listeners’ shoes. What would somebody listening to this song want to know? Maybe they’d like to hear a few recommendations of similar songs, maybe they’re interested in when the artist is touring. Maybe they just want to hear why other people like the song.

• If you don’t know how to start, why not use the classic Spot intro: “That was XXXX by XXXX.” The rest will come naturally!

• Increase the distance between your mouth and the microphone. If you’re too close, your breathing will negatively influence the recording.

• Experiment with adjusting the three volumes you control. The first is the microphone port’s input volume. You can adjust this in Windows in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel. The second volume is your system volume. Keep your system’s overall volume at a mid level while you record spots. The third is your own voice. Try lowering the microphone input volume but speak a little louder.

• Try a different input. Many computers have both a “Line In” and a “Microphone” input. One might work better than the other.

• Try another microphone. If all else fails, you might want to try a different microphone. Some older mics do a poor job of eliminating background noise or may simply be bustified.